There are no significant taxonomic issues associated with this name. The species has been shown to hybridise with S. angustifolium (S. ×diversifolium Graebner) and S. gramineum (S.×speirocephalum Neuman in C.J. Hartman). Although these hybrids may be common, they are not considered likely to affect the survival of the species or this evaluation.

The species occurs mainly in Europe, with scattered records east through the Caucasus and Russia to Kamchatka (including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia), China (Gansu, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Xinjiang, and possibly Henan, Hebei and Shaanxi) and Japan, it is also found in northern North America. In Europe, it is common in the west and centre, north into Scandinavia but is less frequent in the Mediterranean, it occurs throughout European Russia (Cook and Nicholls 1986, Castroviejo et al. 2008, eFloras 2011). There is an outlying record from Myanmar (eFloras 2011)

The species typically occurs in the margins of lakes, swamps, and in the slower reaches or backwaters of large lowland rivers, it will also occasionally occur in canals and smaller ponds. It is most frequently found in mesotrophic to eutrophic systems in deep silt and usually in fairly shallow water. Cook and Nicholls (1986) consider that it is a poor competitor and this is why it is not more often dominant.